'Astroneer' Update 119 Introduces Cross-Platform Multiplayer Support

The latest patch for Astroneer is out now, introducing a handful of changes and a few “surprises” that System Era Softworks says we’ll have to find on our own. And the biggest change in this week’s patch should make it even easier for those without a regular Astroneer group to find one the next time they go exploring.

It was such an abnormally busy Monday -- what with Tekken 7 being pushed to June, the next Dark Souls 3 expansion getting announced and a leaked Overwatch trailer -- that we almost missed a pretty significant update to our favorite new interstellar exploration and survival game, Astroneer . Some of the changes are small tweaks that make sense for the game, like letting players jump on Spikers, and some engine tweaks intended to prevent items and resources from disappearing when the frame rate dips. But the biggest change in this week’s Astroneer update is unquestionably the introduction of cross-platform support, allowing Windows 10 and Xbox One players to explore Astroneer together. Unfortunately, there’s no word on if/when that feature will make its way to Steam, despite being the platform where Astroneer sold best.

Cross-play multiplayer between Xbox One and Windows 10 Store PC versions now works!

Fix up the way that objects with research items get dug up. You can now kill hazards without uncovering their buried research item.

Make spikers destroy after a bit when you dig them up.

Spikers can be jumped on without hurting you, like that jellyfish scene from Finding Nemo.

Improve the distance at which objects have physics, allowing (for example) zebra balls to roll further from player.

Fix the disappearance of vehicles and items, particularly when frame rates are low.

A couple surprises you'll have to discover.

NOTES:

Work is still underway for massive performance increases. Expect to see some of that in the next patch or so.

The team is moving offices! We're staying in Seattle but will be moving to a larger office so that we can grow our team. This is partly responsible for the increase in time between 117 and 119 patches.

We'll be doing a stream either this week coming up or first thing the following week to hopefully show off some of the new content coming to Astroneer.

Astroneer is currently available on Steam Early Access and the Xbox One Game Preview program. The project currently doesn’t have a timeline for its full debut.